Device for a box

ABSTRACT

The present invention refers to a device, at a box consisting of an upper part and a lower part of a load box which by said parts can be coupled together to each other to form a storage box and that the box also is provided to be used as a boat. Said box parts are with one of the box parts receivable on top of the other box part, and able to couple together, in order to form a boat or a similar vessel by the lower part of the load box, in a position coupled together with the upper part of the load box, being provided to function as the upper part of the boat body when forming a boat.

The present invention refers to a device at a box consisting of an upperpart and a lower part of a load box, which by said parts can be coupledtogether to each other to form a storage box and that the box is alsoprovided to be used as a boat.

Today, different variants of boxes intended to be mounted on vehicleroofs are frequently used. The most common field of application forthese is presumably transportation of skis etc. during the winterseason, but the roof box can of course be used the remaining part of theyear (even if this mostly is not the case) as a complement to theluggage compartment of the car. However, one may generally find the roofbox kept in garages etc. during the major part of the year which notonly means that the box in itself is not used but also that it occupiesa large storage area, which area not too seldom constitutes an item ofshortage in garages and storage rooms. Efforts to increase the degree ofuse of the roof boxes have been made by letting them obtain more fieldsof application than to merely function as a simple storage box. This hasamong other things resulted in boxes which in more or less successfuldesigns can be utilized as for example in pulkas or stretchers.

A large roof box, of for example the dimensions 2,20×1,15×0,30 m, in anupside downwards position confusingly resembles the body of a smallboat. A roof box designed such that it also should be able to be usedsafely as a boat implies an excellent complementary use of the roof box.A convertible roof box/boat at the same time entails extra use of theroof box also during the ice free months of the year and isadvantageously used for example at lake fishing. During the winterseason a "roof box boat" may constitute a light handy rescue platformfor ice fishers, skaters etc., when they are not certain of the buoyancyof the ice or need a sleigh by which equipment and possible fish may betransported.

EP,A1 239 212, U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,587 and DE,A2, 2 048 262 showcoupling together of box parts laterally and respectively using only theupper part of a load box as a boat.

Roof box boats according to known designs however exhibit severalshortcomings. Present roof box boats only utilize the upper part of theroof box, which normally entails that these obtain a too low freeboardheight to provide safe buoyancy and stability. Further the roof boxesbecome high if they are manufactured according to conventional designsto be able to function as a boat with high freeboard. When such boxesare transported on a vehicle roof they entail an unnecessary great airdrag with increased fuel consumption of the vehicle in question as aresult. Since roof boxes generally are made of plastic, e.g. glass fibre(GRP), polycarbonate or ABS-plastic reinforcements are required for thebody of the boat, which according to a known design is constituted byone part of the box, to prevent that the passengers trample through thesame. Further, at crack formation, there is a risk that the vesselsinks, unless it is provided with a double bottom, alternatively floattanks filled either with air or with a float material, e.g of typecellular plastic, which has closed cells. It is also common that thethwarts (seat boards) of the roof box boat are not fixedly anchored inthe walls of the roof box but instead detachably mountable in the roofbox. This immediately gives the user a problem with loose parts thattake up space and may rattle in the roof box when this is utilized as astorage box.

The present invention intends to remedy said problem and thereby also tomake the roof box boat safer and more user-friendly.

This purpose is achieved by means of a device according to the presentinvention which in the main is characterized therein, that said boxparts are, with one of the box parts receivable on top of the other boxpart, able to couple to each other in order to form a boat or a similarvessel by the lower part of the load box, in a coupled together positionwith the upper part of the load box, being provided to function as theupper part of the boat body when forming a boat.

More specifically the invention is constituted by a device at a boxconsisting of an upper part and a lower part of load box, which can becoupled together to each other to form a storage box with a storagecompartment formed between said parts and that the box also is providedto be used as a boat. Said box parts are, with one box part receivableon top of the other box part, able to couple together, in order to forma boat or a similar vessel.

The lower part of the load box, in a position coupled together with theupper part of the load box, is provided to function as the upper part ofthe boat body when forming a boat.

The upper part of the load box is connected with its wall end portion tothe lower part of the load box below the upper free circumferential edgeof the lower part.

The lower part of the load box exhibits an outwards divergent lateralwall with a lowered receiving portion for the upper part of the load boxand its wall end portion.

The lower part of the load box exhibits openings through the portionnormally constituting bottom of the load box which openings are closableby a number of detachable floor plates.

The lower part of the box has fixedly mounted transverse sparscontaining air and/or float material and which may function as thwartsand reinforcements.

A coupling, which is provided to operate with a pressure differencebetween an inner air gap and the outside of the coupling, preferablywith under-pressure, is provided to extend along the respectivecircumferential edge of the box parts in a position with the box partscoupled together as a boat.

The coupling exhibits a cooperable male part and female part, at eachother encountering lateral parts of the lower part and the upper part ofthe box with said air gap in the interior of the female part, with aninterjacent preferably elastic strip attached to the male part.

A valve is provided between said air gap and its exterior part,preferably a non-return valve.

One of the lateral edges of the coupling of the female part is higherthan the other edge in an edge couple.

Sealing tapes extend along each side of a lateral part and the lateraledges of the respective coupling for sealing of the air gap.

In the following the invention is described in the specification and inreferred drawings such as non limiting embodiments, whereby inparticular it should be noted that the box described appropriately butnot necessarily needs to be realized or used as a conventional roof box,that is with fastening on a vehicle roof, and that the coupling usedalso is applicable on other optional conformal bodies, for example tubeswhich are required to be joined detachably by a tight and durablecoupling.

In the drawings enclosed, the respective figure represents thefollowing:

FIG. 1. A sketch of a roof box device at the same time showing this in aform of an ordinary roof box of a vehicle as well as in a form joined toa boat.

FIG. 2. Partial sections of a roof box seen from behind.

FIG. 3. Partial sections of the roof box seen from the front.

FIG. 4. A roof box converted to a boat seen in a sectional view,transversely of the longitudinal direction of the boat, between thwartsalong the line 4--4 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5. A roof box converted to a boat in a sectional view, transverselyof the longitudinal direction of the boat through a thwart along theline 5--5 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 6. A dismounted coupling.

FIG. 7. A coupled coupling.

FIG. 8. The top of the roof box, also the lower part of the body of theboat, seen from the side.

FIG. 9. The top of the roof box, also the upper part of the body of theboat, seen partly in section.

FIG. 10. The roof box seen from the side in open and closed positionrespectively, partly in section

FIG. 11. The roof box converted to a boat, seen from above.

FIG. 12. The roof box converted to a boat, seen from the side.

FIG. 13. A detail of box parts coupled together to form a box (sectionalong the line 4--4 in FIG. 1).

FIG. 14. A detail of box parts coupled together to form a boat (sectionalong the line 4--4 in FIG. 1)

A device 1 according to the present invention is shown in FIG. 1. Thisis primarily built up from a tub shaped 2 upper part 3 and a bordershaped 4 lower part 5 of the load box, which can be joined detachably toeach other, in order to form a roof box 1A, see FIG. 10, and by means ofa tight coupling 6 in order to form a smaller boat 1B, see FIG. 11 and12. The coupling 6 preferably consists of a male part 7 and a femalepart 8, which may be brought together according to FIG. 1 to form atight joint between the box parts 3,5 when these parts 3, 5 areconverted to boat 1B or a similar vessel. The male part 7 o the coupling6 is preferably constituted by a sealing elastic strip 9 which islocated along one of the edges 11 of the lower part 5 of the box. Thefemale part 8, which preferably is permanently attached, with a boltjoint, glueing etc. at the edge 12 of the upper part 3 of the box, isshaped as a tub or a flute 13 with coupling walls 14,15 in pairs, whichpreferably are somewhat resilient 16 in order to facilitate the couplingto the male part 7, of which one of the coupling walls 14, the innerone, preferably is made somewhat higher than the other coupling wall 15in the purpose of facilitating the fitting of the male part 7 into thefemale part 8. The fitting can also be facilitated by means of anappropriate, as a suggestion rounded 17 design of the strip seal 9 ofthe male part 7 or by bending 18 the upper coupling wall part on one orboth walls 14, 15 of the female parts 8. Resiliency 16 of walls 14, 15of the female part 8 can be achieved by for example manufacturing thesein an elastic material, or as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 where theresiliency of the walls 14,15 relatively the upper part 3 of the box ismade possible by means of for instance an elastic sealing tape 20, oranother flexible means, which acts between the upper part edge 12 of thebox and the walls 14, 15 of the coupling respectively.

When the male part 7 is entered into the female part 8 the male part 7is prevented to reach the bottom and reach all the way down in thefemale part 8, by the edge 12 on the upper part 3 of the box bearingagainst the edge 11 of the lower part of the box via the seal 9. Herebyan air gap 21 is formed which is delimited between the strip seal 9, theedge 12 of the upper part of the box, the coupling-walls 14,15 and theelastic sealing tape 20 etc. Superfluous air 22 inside the space 23 ofthe female part 8 is pressed out by means of one or more non-returnvalves 24 connected to said air gap 21. The male part 7 and the femalepart 8 thereby are efficiently and securely locked to each other throughthe creation of an under-pressure 25 in the said slot 21, whichconsequently "sucks" the parts 7,8 together. The under-pressure 25 canfor example be created by a simple bicycle pump 26 with reversednon-return valve 27 or another appropriate suction-pump. In order totake the coupling 6 apart the procedure instead will be the inverted. Byopening the non-return valves 24 and thereby equalizing the pressure 25the parts 7,8 can be easily separated. If required one can also pump airinto the gap 21 by means of an ordinary bicycle pump in order to easierloosen the parts.

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 shows sections of the roof box 1A from behind and fromthe front respectively when this is mounted, with a suitable fasteningdevice 28 on the roof rack 29 of a car 30 or a similar vehicle. The malepart 7 and the female part 8 can obviously be placed inverted theembodiment shown, that is, the male part can be constituted by the edge12 of the upper part 3 of the box and the corresponding female part mustthen obviously be placed on the edge 11 of the lower part 5 of the box.

The roof box 1A can easily be altered by few measures to a boat 1Baccording to FIG. 4 and 5 by coupling apart a combined pivot hinge- andsecuring part 32 situated at one end of the box, preferably theanterior, and release the present gas springs 33 from the upper part 3of the box, and by lifting off the upper part 3 of the box from thelower part 5, and rotate the upper part 3 of the box 180 degrees aboutan axis running horizontally at the length extension of the upper partof the box, and subsequently without turning it about place the lowerpart 5 on top of and tightly together with the upper part 3, whereby theshape of a boat 1B is obtained. After joining together by means ofearlier described coupling 6 the boat 1B is ready to use, except forthat a detachable floor 34, which normally constitutes part of thebottom 35 of the lower box part 5 of the roof box 1A, must be taken outfrom the lower box part 5 and instead be placed above the keelson 36, sothat a passenger 37 does not trample through the body 38 and thatcorresponding hole space 39 is created for the legs 40 of thepassengers.

FIG. 5 illustrates how the freeboard height H to the water surface 41 israised essentially through the use of both the upper 3 and the lowerpart 5 of the roof box 1A to the boat 1B instead of as in existingdesigns of roof boxes only use the box upper part 3, with which oneobtains the considerably lower freeboard height, designated with h.

The upper part 3 of the load box with its wall end portion 75 connectsagainst the lower part 5 of the load box at a level that is situatedbelow the upper free circumferential edge 70A of the lower part 5 of theload box. More specifically the lower part 5 of the load box can beprovided such that it exhibits an outwards divergent lateral wall 70with a lowered receiving portion 71 in order thereby to support andcarry the upper part of the load box in the box carrying position whenthe parts 3, 5 are coupled together to form a box 1A. At the areaoutside said support receiving portion 71 there may be provided drainopenings 72 to enable for rain-water that enters into the space 73between the lateral wall 70 of the lower part of the box and the lateralwall edge 12 of the upper part of the box, to pass out and flow down onthe vehicle roof away from the box when the parts are joined to a box.

The female part 8 of the coupling 6 thereby can be provided to bepermanently fixed along the circumferential edge of the upper part ofthe box thanks to cooperation with the interjacent rubber seal elements20 and the lateral wall edge 12 of the upper part of the box, such asmentioned earlier.

The both box parts 3, 5 can be manufactured as an integrated unit fromthe beginning like a moulded boat with a high rail and which afterwardsis cut horizontally along the boat formed between thereby constituteddivided lateral wall edges in pairs 11 and 12 respectively. Owing to thecoupling 6 both parts 3,5 can be joined again when the parts are goingto be used as boat, but that the box parts 3,5 can be partly received ineach other, and thereby substantially lower the height of the commonunited parts 3, 5 when they are used as a box 1A.

Inside the lower part 5 of the box there are provided thwarts 42-44 asmentioned and a bottom where floor plates 34 close leg passage openings39 of the lower part 5 of the box.

Spars 42-44, extending transverse of the moving direction 45 of theboat/the roof box, in the lower part 5 of the box serve as thwarts inthe boat 1B at the same time as they with an appropriate fillingmaterial, may constitute floats in the event that the boat 1B capsizesor is filled with water.

When the lower part 5 of the box is used as roof box the spars 42-44 mayconstitute much needed dividers for partitions 52-53 and prevents thatgoods 54 inside the box move about in the load compartment 55.

The function and the usefulness of a convertible (roof) box/boat as wellas the method to detachably couple together the parts thereof shouldhave been evident from the above mentioned and enclosed drawings, inwhich the invention has been illustrated. As mentioned earlier theinvention however is not limited to the embodiments but can be variedwithin the scope of the patent claims without departing from theinventive concept. Consequently the coupling between the both parts canbe constituted by other joining devices than the vacuum coupling shown.For example a conventional hook coupling may come in question, that is,a hook that is pivotably journalled at one of the box/the boat parts andwhich can be coupled together with a fitting hook arranged at the otherbox/boat part, preferably with a coupling operating with an over centrefunction.

I claim:
 1. A device (1) at a box (1A) consisting of an upper part (3)and a lower part (5) of a load box, which by said parts (3, 5) can becoupled together to each other to form a storage box (1A) and that thebox also is provided to be used as a boat, characterized therein, thatsaid box parts (3, 5) are, with one of the box parts (5) receivable ontop of the other box part (3), and able to couple together, in order toform a boat (1B) or a similar vessel by the lower part of the load box(5), in a position coupled together with the upper part of the load box(3), being provided to function as the upper part of the boat body whenforming a boat (1B).
 2. A device according to claim 1, characterizedtherein, that the upper part of the load box (3) with its wall endportion (75) connects against the lower part of the load box (5) belowits upper free circumferential edge (70A).
 3. A device according toclaim 2, characterized therein, that the lower part (5) of the lad boxexhibits an outwards divergent lateral wall (70) with a loweredreceiving portion for the upper part of the load box (3) and its wallend portion (75).
 4. A device according to claim 3, characterizedtherein, that the lower part (5) of the load box exhibits openings (39),closable by a number of detachable floor-plates (34), through its partnormally constituting bottom of the load box.
 5. A device according toclaim 4, characterized therein, that the lower part of the box hasfixedly mounted transverse spars containing at least one of air andfloat material and which can function as thwarts and reinforcements. 6.A device according to claim 4, characterized therein, that a coupling,which is provided to operate with a pressure difference between an innerair gap and the outside of the coupling preferably with under-pressure,is provided to extend along the respective circumferential edge of thebox parts in a position with the box parts coupled together as a boat.7. A device according to claim 3, characterized therein, that the lowerpart of the box has fixedly mounted transverse spars containing at leastone of air and float material and which can function as thwarts andreinforcements.
 8. A device according to claim 3, characterized therein,that a coupling, which is provided to operate with a pressure differencebetween an inner air gap and the outside of the coupling preferably withunder-pressure, is provided to extend along the respectivecircumferential edge of the box parts in a position with the box partscoupled together as a boat.
 9. A device according to claim 2,characterized therein, that the lower part of the box has fixedlymounted transverse spars containing at least one of air and floatmaterial and which can function as thwarts and reinforcements.
 10. Adevice according to claim 2, characterized therein, that a coupling,which is provided to operate with a pressure difference between an innerair gap and the outside of the coupling preferably with under-pressure,is provided to extend along the respective circumferential edge of thebox parts in a position with the box pans coupled together as a boat.11. A device according to claim 1, characterized therein, that the lowerpart (5) of the box has fixedly mounted transverse spars (42, 43, 44)containing at least one of air and float material and which can functionas thwarts and reinforcements.
 12. A device according to claim 1,characterized therein, that a coupling, which is provided to operatewith a pressure difference between an inner air gap and the outside ofthe coupling preferably with under-pressure, is provided to extend alongthe respective circumferential edge of the box parts in a position withthe box parts coupled together as a boat.
 13. A device according toclaim 1, characterized therein, that a coupling (6), which is providedto operate with a pressure difference between an inner air gap (21) andthe outside of the coupling preferably with under-pressure (25), isprovided to extend along the respective circumferential edge of the boxparts in a position with the box parts (3, 5) coupled together as a boat(1B).
 14. A device according to claim 13, characterized therein, thatthe coupling exhibits a cooperable male part (7) and a female part (8)at each other encountering lateral parts (11,12) of a lower part (5) andan upper part (3) of a box, with said air gap (21) in the interior offemale part (8), with an interjacent preferably elastic strip (9)attached to the male part (7).
 15. A device according to claim 14,characterized therein, that one (14) of lateral edges of the coupling ofthe female part (14, 15) is higher than the other edge (15) in an edgecouple and that sealing tapes (20) extend along each side of a lateralpart (12) and the respective lateral edges (14, 15) of the female part(8) in order to seal the air gap (21) of the coupling.
 16. A deviceaccording to claim 14, characterized therein, that a valve is providedbetween said air gap and its exterior, preferably a non-return valve.17. A device according to claim 13, characterized therein, that a valveis provided between said air gap (21) and its exterior, preferably anon-return valve.
 18. A device according to claim 17, characterizedtherein, that one of lateral edges of the coupling of the female part ishigher than the other edge in an edge couple and that sealing tapesextend along each side of a lateral part and the respective lateraledges of the female part in order to seal the air gap of the coupling.